Almost every time I receive a picture from a client, they ask, “Is this image big enough?” If it isn’t, the jargon begins to fly: resolution (or “res”), pixels, pixelated, screen resolution, print resolution, DPI, PPI … whew! Clients are often confused because the image looks fine on their computer and they can’t understand why it won’t look great when it is printed for the final piece.
Let me try to explain some of the technical jargon, as simply as possible, as it is related to the field of graphic design.
Resolution
Image resolution describes the amount of detail an image holds. Higher resolution images are crisper and more detailed. In a lower resolution image, the fine differences in color disappear, edges become blurred, etc. There are many kinds of resolution that can apply to film, television, etc., but the two types we are concerned with here are print resolution and screen resolution.